Attornery blames mold for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) patient’s death

56 year old Dan Krieg was the fifth victim to die from a mold infection after receiving transplant kidney surgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) since 2014. Kreig had underwent transplant surgery in July 2015. He then returned to hospital in March where he was placed in what is called a negative pressure room in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit.

After he had died, hospital officials were downplaying mold as the cause of death in the media. They acknowledge that Krieg had a fungal infection, but they claim that he had died from complications due to pneumonia, and it was not mold that killed their patient.

However, a lawyer, Jerry Meyers says the family of Dan Krieg is planning to sue UPMC for the mold which they believe caused his death.

Meyers told WTAJTV News that Krieg was put in room 19 at UPMC Montefiore, a specially-ventilated “negative pressure room” being used as a regular room.

“The whole purpose of the room is to keep any contagious diseases in the room,” says Meyers. “He didn’t have a contagious disease. He didn’t belong in that kind of a room, whether the doors were open or not. And, by opening the doors, he was exposed to a higher risk of getting a fungal infection.”

Meyers says Krieg was eventually moved, but the damage was already done.

“He had infections in his lung, and was supposed to have at least part of it removed this week in a risky surgery. A person reaches for life even if the chances aren’t great.”

“They have created an environment that attracts fungal spores, which are very light. They float in the air easily if you kick them up off the floor,” says Meyers.